


How To Survive Your Eggnancy In 10 Easy Steps

by Heartsprout (graygryphon)



Series: Heartsprout's Hybrid AU [4]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: AU, Domestic Fluff, Egg Laying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Heartsprout's Hybrid Au, Hurt/Comfort, Hybrid AU, Mate Bonding, Mpreg, Multi, OT6, Oviposition, Polyamory, Pregnancy, Unexpected Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy, bird!gavin, bull!Ryan, cat!Michael, lion!Jack, ram!Geoff, sugarglider!jeremy, they take it in stride tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-09
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2018-10-29 22:01:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 13,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10862949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/graygryphon/pseuds/Heartsprout
Summary: The science of hybridism is more of an art; nothing is guaranteed and insurance costs suffer because of itGavin lays eggs, but male monotremes like him aren't able to have them fertilisedit's just not in their biologybut biology is a science after all...





	1. Title Page

I hate to do this to you, but this isn't the first chapter

I wanted to iron out some things before jumping into the ol' narrative

 

First thing is that to respect Ray's wishes, he will no longer be in my fics

the dude has said he doesn't want to be included in RT stuff anymore, and the poor dude is never gonna hear the end of 'when are you going back to RT?????' anyway

he is my precious cinnamon roll, but that also comes with respect for his wishes

I will not be editing any previous fics with him, nor will i be taking them down, but no further fics will include him (i'm so sorry avid ray fans ;n;)

 

THIS BEING SAID, since he was part of this au's canon in the previous parts of the series, i'm gonna have to pull a god string and jack with the canon

ray effectively never existed in the universe or was part of the herd, instead i'm changing it to play like jeremy was always part of the main herd and not just ray's BF

it feels weird and shoehorned to do this, but the herd must go on

I love lil J, and he was never 'ray's replacement' to me he's his own point of awesomeness

so my bebe boi is now first class herd upgraded

 

That is pretty much the only adjustment to this AU's canon, and Ray being part of the herd was just a pocket dimension like the berensteins or whatever that whole situation is

 

everything else is safe and still canon

 

yall can thank CathInTheBox for this fic. they mentioned it being cool for gav and the guys to have a bebe, either by adoption (or not...) and i was like

 

.... fuck, now i want that too

 

And after a big ol break from fic writing

 

i return from my grave

 

Go forth


	2. Dedications

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long
> 
> I've found over many years of experience that when i draw i pause writing, and when i write i pause drawing
> 
> I taught myself out of needing 'motivation' to be productive (definitely recommend this)
> 
> i just need to teach myself out of getting single-minded about which projects i wanna work on
> 
> I am also moving house again, so its a good time to set out a new routine similar to my old writing schedule
> 
> go forth

It felt different.

  
Not drastically different, just enough to have Gavin feeling a strange tickle down his back.  
  


The egg season wasn’t any different than other in the grand scheme. He had the usual 3 day hyper sexuality; if by three you meant ‘ending one day early with a total of two’  
  


It wasn’t that strange to miss one of the ‘heat’ days, was it? Hormones are fickle things after all  
  


But Gavin’s egg cycles were usually pretty consistent with the heat period of the season, so the unexpected change had him absently confused…  
  


“Dude, we came all this way ‘cause you endlessly insisted; so hurry up and decide what you want”  
  


Gavin’s bubble of inner thought broke and he turned to the cat-brid looking at him with an un-amused pout  
  


“oh, uh, just a burger or something” he said, grinning a little as Michael rolled his eyes and lent over to the widow to be heard by the drive through ordering booth  
  


“I don’t see why we’re all in the back; he’s only just stopped humping everything with a pulse, it’s not like he’s got a big ‘ol egg growing yet”  
  


Gavin looked over the passenger seat shoulder to see Jeremy wedged between Jack and Ryan, three of the beefiest herd members crammed in the back of Ryan's not-that-big car  
  


“it’s the nice thing to do” Jack chuckled “you’ve seen what he has to deal with from the last egg seasons we’ve been here for; the least we can do is give him the front seat”  
  


“You’re lucky I don’t let my wings spill into the back, lil j” Gavin grinned as the car pulled forward to the collection window “although, they are getting a little itchy…”  
  


The underpaid drive through worker was more than shocked and confused to be greeted by four screaming hybrids and a giggling fifth  
  


-  
  


Back at home, among a sea of burger wrappers and fast food cups, the herd reclined happily in the front room as they digested

“So what’s this egg gonna be called?” Jeremy asked, legs looped up among Ryan's  
  


“Yeah; we’ve been through everyone’s last names now, so you’re going to have to get creative” Geoff said, grooming through Jeremy’s fluffy tail absently as he sat on his other side  
  


Gavin shrugged  
  


“Well if we’re following the tradition, I can start with the middle names next; it doesn’t have to have the last name”  
  


“You already used Ryan’s first, middle, and last names so he’s disqualified” Michael offered, stretched over Jack’s lap in a very languid and feline manner  
  


“I’m not _disqualified_ , Michael, I just don’t ‘qualify’ anymore” the bull huffed  
  


“If you aren’t _qualified,_ you’re _Dis-qualified_ , no?” Michael defended  
  


“That’s- you know what, I’m not starting it this time” Ryan sighed, rolling his eyes playfully as Michael accepted his victory  
  


“I haven’t used ‘Vincent’ yet” Gavin said “or Lazer, so how about that?”  
  


“Vincent Lazer?” Geoff asked  
  


“It’s not that bad, really” Jack said “Lazer Vincent?”  
  


“Nah, definitely Vincent Lazer” Jeremy said “that way if he became a cop he’d be Officer Lazer, and how cool’d that be?”  
  


“He could be the President Lazer, or Commander Lazer if he was in the army or something” Geoff grinned  
  


“He’d have to be a viable egg and then hatch for all that though” Ryan said “and six guys do not a baby make”  
  


“party pooper” Jeremy grinned, trying to use the way he was linked around Ryan as leverage to get on top to pin him  
  


As the inevitable wrestling match broke out with Geoff an unfortunate casualty of the couch they were sharing, Gavin yawned and got up from his single seater  
  


“I’m getting pretty worn out; I’m gonna take a nap” he said, taking a moment to gently tug on a feline ear of both Jack and Michael before heading up stairs to the bedroom  
  


It wasn’t fully dark out yet, but he shucked of his shirt and pants and climbed across to snuggle down in the middle of the huge bed  
  


He’s sighed happily surrounded by the warm scents of his herd and the distant playful sounds of bull-on-sugar-glider action  
  


His previous thoughts about the missing heat day hovered in his mind briefly, but he was too tired to bother puzzling it out anymore and drifted off  
  


-  
  


“you got everything?”  
  


“yes Jack”  
  


“the chips?”  
  


“yes Jack…”  
  


“ _and_ the dip”  
  


“Oh my go- yes Jack!”  
  


The lion chuckled a little at exasperation of the ram-brid, Geoff flapping his hands frustratingly when Ryan playfully yanked on his curled horn  
  


“Jack is the only reason the herd hasn’t fallen into insanity” Ryan said, breaking up the beginnings of a wrestling match between Michael and Jeremy and pushing them towards his car  
  


“We would miss the party completely if it was up to you” Gavin said, going to open the passengers door of Geoff’s truck  
  


“And you’re sure your OK to be there a few hours?” Jack asked him, those big caring eyes on his  
  


“Yeah, the nausea wasn’t so bad, and it stopped a few hours ago anyway” Gavin reassured as he climbed in “I think this egg season is going to be merciful to me”  
  


“Merciful to _all_ of us” Michael grinned, the last to get into Ryan's car as he slipped into the back beside Jeremy  
  


“Just remember its OK to bail if you need” Geoff confirmed as he brought the rumbling truck to life, squeezing Gavin’s knee a little  
  


”I’ll be fine, but I’ll keep it mind” Gavin grinned, Geoff backing them out of the drive and following the other car towards the destination of Burnie’s party  
  


Gavin was amused as he watched the silent continuation of the other lad’s wrestling match through their back mirror  
  


As they followed Ryan’s car across a big intersection, neither he nor Geoff had noticed the light had already been yellow when Ryan had gone through  
  


Gavin barely heard Geoff’s small sharp intake of breath, followed by the terrible sound of crunching metal


	3. Table Of Contents

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the huge wait for this chapter
> 
> I'm running like twelve different art/creative projects right now and my task balancing is hella skewed
> 
> however, wait no longer, as i offer you this new chapter
> 
> go forth
> 
> (p.s i have no idea if i'd included this in previous fics/chapters, but a 'monotreme' is a mammal that lays eggs, like a platypus etc i did not make that word up lmao)

It was like everything was swaying, disorienting and turning everything from a solid to a liquid

It made him feel like he was going to chunder, and he had a vague sensation that he had done so at some stage, the shadow of a soothing hand on his shoulder hanging on his skin

It was exhausting, and he must have fallen asleep because the next time he was aware of the space around him it was much more consistent and he could actually make sense of things

It was a hospital, crisp and a little outdated in its deco but not disturbingly so

The herd was all there to his relief, mostly all absent in their phone screens

It was Jeremy who looked up first to stretch and noticed Gavin quietly gazing around the room

“Hey bud; everything making sense yet?” he asked

Gavin’s expression was a visual representation of ‘???’

 “You’ve been pretty disorientated” Jack said, the others all putting their phones away now

“Your dome piece got rattled around a bit, I’m assuming it’s a concussion based on how long we’ve been waiting here” Geoff said “the doctor wanted to talk to you, probably about it”

“A concussion and a egg season?” Gavin spoke now; his voice sounding froggy “sucks to be me”

“It’s my fault, bud” Geoff said solemnly, taking up Gavin’s hand in his “I wasn’t paying enough attention while I drove”

“What hit us?” Gavin asked “I remember something come at us, not a whole lot though”

“it was only a small truck from a moving company” Jack said “but it hit the back half of Geoff’s truck on your side, so you got bounced around the most”

“The side of your head took the most of the brunt” Ryan said, Gavin feeling the padded bandage above his temple

“But you only had like three brain cells anyway so it shouldn’t matter too much” Michael said, Gavin poking his tongue out playfully

“it’s ok, Geoff, guff happens” he said, tugging on Geoff’s horn softly as he lent forward to let his wings out, humming happily as he sat back again and took the opportunity to set some feathers flush again

There was a gentle tap at the door to the hospital room, and they all looked up to see a younger male doctor smiling at them, a soft blue turtle neck sweater under his white lab coat

“Good to see you awake and aware” he grinned with a rich Scottish accent “how are you feeling”

Gavin shrugged

“It’s hard to tell what is head injury and what is egg season” he said, Michael snickering quietly

The doctors look turned softly pensive

“I’ve actually come to talk to you about that” he said moving into the room and taking a quick check at the clip board in his hand and the few files attached

“Usually we wouldn’t keep a hybrid patient longer than absolutely necessary as we are aware of the cost of medical insurances given the huge array of body structures. You did only sustain a small concussion from the vehicle collision, but regular blood tests returned a strange reading that most doctors would overlook given you are in egg season”

All of the head’s ears perked a little, wary eye looking between each other anxiously

“Is everything alright?” Ryan asked, Gavin silently relieved at the way Geoff squeezed his hand reassuringly

“I’m sorry if that sounded rather ominous” the doctor said, giving a calming smile “it’s nothing endangering, just unexpected and I thought I could offer you some insight and you to me in turn”

“You see; I spent numerous years specialising in hybridism biology in university. Most drop out before the half way mark as it obviously requires more information to be learnt in the normal amount of study time. I stuck to it though, with a particular interest in monotreme-hybrid subsets; hybrids that lay eggs instead of live young”

“You probably know more about it than I do” Gavin chuckled

“It really is a hard field to study, let alone in the most varied array of people possible” the doctor grinned “as you know; all monotreme hybrids have an egg pouch, regardless of gender. And with this comes a regular season where a dud egg is laid, or a viable egg that will hatch if a female seeks fertilisation”

“Guys can’t be fertilised though, we did know that” Geoff added. The doctor nodded his head gently, his mouth making a soft line

“In most cases yes; the biological and hormonal balance in a male monotreme isn’t primed for making offspring. During a regular egg season, the hormones released are usually only enough to prepare a undersized dud in the pouch, and then essentially elasticise skin and ligaments to enable natural expulsion of the egg, but the high levels of testosterone stop the egg from catching and being fertilised”

“Hang on, you said in most cases…” Jack said cautiously

“I did…” the doctor said, flipping a page in his files “I read that you never managed to develop flight abilities, yes?”

Gavin nodded

“I just… never figure it out”

“It might be more due to your biology than you think” the doctor said “how your wing and flight muscles develop is also down to hormone and gene balance, aside from your bode density for easy lifting. There are actually a number of cases of winged hybrids having an inability to achieve flight, and tests have always shown the balance lies closer to a centre line than a dominance of oestrogen or testosterone”

“So you’re saying he’s a girl?” Jeremy asked, followed by a swift elbow to the ribs from Ryan

“Not in the least; hormones and biology are little to do with gender, but they are heavily influencing of sex and sex characteristics” the doctor said “which brings us back to your blood test”

“Your hormones weren’t within the norm for a male, and this in itself offers no medical issues or things to be cautious of in the future. It did however make me take a second look at the way your body is currently processing them for your season. A regular doctor would have assumed the flux was normal for a monotreme, but given my extra studies im aware they were outside of regular levels. Closer to those of a female monotreme’s season”

“So, you’re saying…” Gavin trailed off, feeling all the dots connecting in his mind

“I believe that your body allowed you to be fertilized, and your egg season will result in viable offspring. I believe you are pregnant”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this AU went from 'fun hybrid times' into 'sprout's weird mpreg plotlines' lmao


	4. #1 - Come To Terms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just gonna stop apologizing for the gaps between chapters. just assume at all times that i'm a piece of shit lmao
> 
> also I'm like, low key dizzy tonight, so ignore any grammar or spelling errors i miss for now till i come back and double check later
> 
> also appologies if the chapters seem a little short while i'm building the momentum of the plot and getting through this whole section 
> 
> go forth

The doctor gave them some time alone

“that can’t be possible, right?” Jeremy was the first to speak after a few long moments of stunned silence

“I mean… the science made sense, the concepts I grasped that is…” Jack said, also seeming to have all his words stolen despite being the most medically knowledgeable of the herd

“I didn’t think missing a heat day would result in a whole _baby_ ” Gavin breathed in disbelief, rubbing his belly

“Are… are you ok with that?” Geoff said, taking the time to phrase each word correctly before speaking “I mean… like…”

“Do I feel robbed somehow?” Gavin offered “i'm not sure. I mean; I wasn’t exactly forced into this or whatever, it’s just something I never took as a possibility”

“So… and I hate to say it like this… you are OK with incubating the egg to term?” Ryan asked, a slight grimace on his face at having to say the question they were all thinking, despite the complicated morals behind it

Gavin took in a deep breath, holding it a moment longer then letting it out between his pursed lips

“I mean… honestly… the first rush of sensation down my spine was a strange excitement. this isn’t something I planned, but imagine what it could result in; our own little one running all around the gaff”

“A little grabby free” Michael chirped, a soft grin on his face

“The dad jokes would be endless; five times the quantity” Jeremy said with a chuckle

“Imagine what father’s day would look like…” Geoff asked, eyebrows raised as he envisioned the scenario

“He won’t be a bird-brid though; its handed down from a female parent, right?” Ryan asked “how does it work in this scenario though?”

“Well, he’ll probably take after…” Gavin trailed off as something occurred to him

that then occurred to all of them

“Uhh… during your heat… did you… make the ‘full rounds’?” Jack asked, also on the same wave length

They all looked between each other

_Who had been the one to fertilise the egg?!_

_-_

“given your male pelvic structure, I would highly recommend a C section when the egg is ready to be laid” the doctor said, having returned and begun a general Q and A along with some things Gavin would need to start considering

“You can pass the half-sized dud eggs, but a full sized one will be too much for you to pass naturally”

“Makes sense” Gavin said

“We would then be able to ultrasound the egg like a usual pregnancy to check for gender and confirm the good health of baby before it hatches”

“So; what is the incubation period versus when it develops internally?” Jack asked

“It’s a longer process than your regular egg seasons” the doctor smiled at Gavin

“basing this on a female monotreme’s gestation period; the average time the egg will be in your internal pouch is about 3-4 months, where your body will prepare to express it like a normal dud, and it will require the external incubation for 4-5 months. The baby will develop faster than a mammalian pregnancy but it will take you extra care to keep the egg in optimum conditions like all monotreme parents”

“That brings up another thing, though” Gavin said, pausing for a moment “bird hybridism comes normally from the female mother, but in this case there is no female parent so I was unsure about the prospects of him ever developing hybridism…”

The doctor nodded, his warm smile ever present

“I can imagine you all have questions about the babies future hybridism” he smiled “like all hybrids, it will take till the babies late teens to early adulthood to know anything. Your unique hormonal balance will make this more difficult to base than other cases for most things” he paused, then is a comfortably toned voice added “and I am afraid this will be the same for determining the second contributing parent”

Gavin looked up, then at his herd and the way all their expressions betraying that they were waiting for the elephant to be addressed too

He chuckled

“We were wondering a little too obviously, huh”

The doctor chuckled too

“A question that has been wondered as long as people have existed perhaps. Due to the nature of monotreme pregnancies, and most pregnancies in fact, it will require the baby to emerge from the egg to determine the second parent. We won’t be able to penetrate the shell prematurely to retrieve any DNA without risking introducing potentially hazardous bacteria into the baby’s safe environment”

“I’m going to say it now, and to which I know we all agree; whoever the second parent is- it's irrelevant to how much we all love you Gavin, and how much we will all love the baby too” Geoff declared, the four others all undeniably agreeing and moving a little closer so they could touch at least two others and make a little chain back to Gavin

He felt a beautiful swell in his chest

“this baby is going to have six amazing parents” Gavin smiled, trying to pinch back on the way his nose itched and warned of impending happy tears

“another thing we all have to agree on, though” Jeremy said “we aren’t calling him ‘Vincent Lazer’ under any circumstances”

“Jeremy” Ryan said “that is the most correct thing you have _ever_ said in your life”


	5. #2 - Start Preparing A Nest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess who's still alive
> 
> this bitch
> 
> i also have a part time job now and even more ongoing projects than ever
> 
> is anyone surprised? im not
> 
> go forth

“No, put it against that wall”

“We already tried over there, and you didn’t like it”

“Wot? No we haven’t and no I didn’t”

Geoff sighed heavily, him and Jeremy sharing a light-hearted look of exasperation before lifting the wooden crib and moving it over to where they _knew_ it had already been

The spare room had very quickly been agreed upon as the nursery, barely even needing any kind of deliberation on the matter and skipping to ‘what colour do we paint it?’

The first month had been spent working through Gavin’s morning sickness and various bodily complaints, and when he had started to feel a little better and able to go places they had begun doing the basic shopping for the baby’s future ‘nest’

And if they had thought he had been picky in the construction of his dud nests, he was _outrageously_ involved in the micromanaging of every tiny detail

Every day the room would have moved around at least in one small way, and you could guarantee that something would try at least five different locations, doubling up a couple times even as Gavin strived for absolute perfection

Geoff almost wished the painting had taken longer, and not just filled in the time while Gavin was more often queasy than not

“hmmm, put it under the window” Gavin said, crunching absently on a cookie as he stood with other hand supporting the small of his back, the pose making his growing bump more pronounced

“you’re gonna be a spoilt lil’ bastard” Jeremy whispered at the bump as he bent down to pet it softly

“Oi, don’t swear or he’ll come out as a mini-Mogar” Gavin said, bapping Jeremy on the shoulder

Both Geoff and Jeremy snorted, even a faint chuckle being heard from Jack in the other room

“that is going to be entirely unavoidable; we _all_ swear like sailors and the baby’s first word is going to be ‘fuck’ without a doubt” Geoff chuckled

“His first sentence will be ‘fuck _me’_...” Jeremy said “or maybe ‘eat a bag of dicks’… any kind of dick bag phrase”

“Our baby is going to be the sweetest angel” Gavin declared “and I won’t have any of you tainting his innocent mind”

“Filth spawns from filth” Ryan declared as he wandered past the door towards the study, having apparently been listening

Gavin pouted and glared dramatically at the out-of-sight bull-brid

“Our child is not _filth_ , YOU are the filth!” Gavin frowned, stamping a foot for emphasis and fluffing out his feathers like an upset budgie

Eventually Gavin was placated with the location of the crib (for now at least) and they headed down to the main room to take a break from nesting

Michael was lost in his Nintendo switch on the sofa, Jeremy dropping down beside him and grabbing his own consol from the side table that was the ‘gaming dump’ for controllers and handhelds of all kinds

Jack was reading a book, Gavin noticing a small anatomy diagram and deciding it must be some kind of medical book on hybridism.

Jack had been searching out books and info of various studies into hybridism, particularly of monotreme’s and other non-mammals

He had still retained his interest in medical and health care knowledge after ending the period in his life where he was a paramedic

But the new situation of them about to become parents had inspired a personal enquiry into all kinds of historical anomalies of the kind

“anything in there that you were looking for?” he asked, leaning slightly against the back of the single seater and running his fingers through Jack’s mane and scratching behind the small feline ears softly

He hummed pensively in the back of his nose, the sound turning into a rumbling purr as he enjoyed the attention to his ears

“not so much in this book, but I have been learning there are far more unexpected results from hybridism than you would think” he said, noting the page number and closing the book “there was actually a porcupine-brid once who began growing species-typical quills among his hair and even on his lower back in the tail region”

“Would suck to be his partner and have to sleep next to potential stabbings every night” Geoff said, flicking through channels on the muted TV

“It actually did result in a few failed relationships” Jack said “he had never bonded so it makes you wonder if a bonded mate would have not seen it as an issue”

“Imagine if the spikes were on his dick though” Michael piped up, apparently still listening despite his rather engaging-looking game

“You kinda have dick-pricks though” Jeremy offered

“Only when im presenting, and they are only tiny little bumps where the barbs would be” Michael corrected “Jack has them too. I remember seeing them when I first presented and though I had an STD or something”

“Sexy” Geoff commented idly

Ryan now returned from the study, fiddling with what looked like part of a computer

“Found the problem Geoff; the fans have worn out and stopped venting out the heat” he said, holding up the extracted part and showing how the fan was jammed “when was the last time you checked your rig?”

“It’s a pre-build generic piece of crap, not some custom made gaming creation” Geoff replied “I don’t _have_ a ‘rig’ to check”

Ryan sighed, grimacing at the back to Geoff’s turned head as he stood by Gavin

“It’s easy enough to get another fan to replace it” Gavin chuckled, looping his arm around Ryan’s to hug onto the bull-brid’s limb

“He’s lucky, or else he might have risked having to learn a lesson about neglecting his tech” Ryan grumbled passively at Geoff, winking at Gavin playfully before pecking him on the top of the head

“Don’t worry; this baby will be better than all of us put together and correct the amount of stupid we are outputting into the world” Gavin grinned

“Its gonna take more than one good soul to offset our bullshit” Michael declared, Jeremy snorting and Geoff nodding at the sentiment

Jack rolled his eyes

“How much do you think it will cost to have an in-house nanny to raise him instead of throwing him in with these animals?”

“911?” Jeremy said “yes; I just witnessed a murder”


	6. #3 - Figure Out What Is Normal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me; send me you anger!
> 
> yall; how do?
> 
> it was honestly kinda touching and promising how yall just told me how much you loved the story and my writing, and how you couldn't bring yourself to send me even fake rage
> 
> i apologize endlessly that it still took too long ;n;
> 
> its almost like the 'im not mad, just dissapointed' effect
> 
> its /POTENT/ shame and guilt lmao
> 
> good job
> 
> go forth
> 
> (PS i wrote the last section with new false nails, so if i typed like a mad man before, then now i'm typing like i won the world championship for bullshit key tapping skills and spell check isnt a priority for me rn)

Gavin was pacing back and forth

Well; he was waddling back and forth

Well; one step either way, with a 10 second gap in between each step to catch his breath after shifting all the egg weight 6 inches across the doorway

He had been staring out the window beside the front door for about ten minutes now, and Jack was getting more confused by the second

“Sweetie; what are you looking at?” he asked, setting his tablet to the side

Gavin grumbled under his breath a little, surprising Jack with the defensive nature of it

“He’s just standing there… _why_ is he just standing there…” Gavin muttered under his breath, almost sounding full of pent up rage

Completely dumbfounded, Jack got up and moved to stand behind the bird-brid, now seeing the delivery van across the street, the driver standing at the sliding van door and shuffling through packages and letters

Then he chuckled

“Gavin- he’s a FedEx guy; he’s just sorting his stock out so he knows what he’s got to deliver next” Jack grinned, lifting a hand and setting it on Gavin’s shoulder

But he realised the bird had even started fluffing out his feathers as he glared unblinking at the man, and his fingers had barely landed on Gavin’s shirt before the smaller man was twisting out from under it

“Don’t touch, too itchy” Gavin declared, not even having looked up at Jack as he turned and headed up the stairs with what seemed like a determined intention in his motions

Jack’s hand just hovered in the air as he tried to decide what he had just witnessed

“Oh…kay?” Jack said to no one but himself, wishing someone else had also stayed home from work so he could have had a second opinion on what had just happened

-

After lunch Jack found himself lost in thought, content as he packed various items of clothing into the special-ordered _jumbo_ washing machine

He even found himself humming quietly, astonished that there was a shirt in the ‘dirty’ basket that _wasn’t_ RT merch of any kind

It _was_ an old band tee though, one of the last survivors of the many Geoff once had, and as he was holding it up to see its design before dumping it into the tub, he saw Gavin walk past the door to the garage, before ducking back into view and locking eyes with the shirt

“Not that one!” he declared, moving over to Jack and all but yanking it out of the lion-brid’s hands with a death grip

“I need this one” he said, smelling it quickly like he was confirming something before turning and heading from the room again

For the second time in the same day, Jack found himself completely lost trying to decipher the bird’s actions

His lips pressed together a little as his eyebrow rose up, but he tentatively went back to his chore, wondering if there would be another kidnapping of dirty attire before the day was done

\--

When he found Gavin picking through the shed-bin they had in the bathroom, somehow immune to the disgusting wet-animal smell emanating from it, he couldn’t avoid asking any longer

“Hey Gav?”

“mm?” came the absent confirmation, his wings still acting as bobbing counterweights while he rifled through the muck

“Are you feeling ok, bud? I _have_ to ask at this stage, given how… _different_ you’ve been acting today”

Gavin paused and looked over his shoulder

“I’m _not_ being weird…” he said, sounding confronted by Jack’s question

“I didn’t say weird, sweetie!” jack quickly confirmed “you just seem kinda jumpy, a little distant, and a touch agitated”

Gavin’s eyes narrowed a little

“In case you forgot, I’m carrying a baby right now…”

Jack felt kinda dumb

“God, I’m sorry Gav” he said, chuckling at himself slightly “I guess I was trying to categorise what is normal for you and your behaviour, even though nothing is really normal now… or ever for that fact”

Gavin bobbed his head, eyes still narrowed, before going back to whatever important matters he was attending amongst the soggy fur

Jack decided the best way to help Gavin, if he even needed it right now, would just be to wait out the bird’s aloof and curious actions, and be nearby and ready if Gavin needed anything on his own terms

“I’ll leave you to it then” Jack said with a quirk in his smile “You feeling hungry or anything?”

“Fine, thank you” he replied, voice flat and the words spoken a little too close together to be considered even remotely genuine

But Jack just found it kind of adorable given how Gavin was apparently on a self-designed mission, and wandered back down stairs

\--

Half a week later, Gavin's strange behaviour had all but dissolved from jacks mind.

The bird brid had returned to his usual plucky self after a good night’s sleep and some quality loving from his herd, and the anomaly of that day showed no sign of recurring

They were all relaxing on a hot afternoon, lounging while reading, gaming, and cruising the internet while chatting and discussing various things about them and their babies’ future

Amongst a discussion about how an Edgar hole was not an appropriate time-out area, Jack noticed something odd about the shirt that the _very defensive_ Ryan was wearing

“hey rye; did you accidentally put on one of Gavin's bean-pole shirts, or do you enjoy being squished into a shirt 3 sizes too slim?” he chuckled as he took in how it was gripping tight to his areas of plenty, bunching up around his stomach pudge

“as much as I think getting into a shirt with a spatula is fun, I had to cause Geoff took the only large one left” Ryan pouted at the ram

“I’m sorry; who helped found the company that makes all this merch and gives yall jobs?” Geoff snarked back with a hidden playful grin

But Jack was too confused to catch anything after Ryan's reply

“Wait; what do you mean last? I did the washing so there should be plenty”

“you mean you having noticed the dip in supply?” Michael asked “I don’t usually wear mediums you know”

“It’s not that they are all dirty, there just aren’t any around” Geoff said

“We thought you had decided to restock with fresh ones or something” Ryan shrugged at Jack

He was so confused, Jeremy also nodding with a look that meant he had noticed this phenomenon too

“What, no? I haven’t done anything like that” Jack said urgently “how didn’t I notice this?”

While they were all running over the few shirts they had left, Jeremy realised Gavin had been silent this whole time, the look on his face showing it was deliberate to fly under the radar

“Gav?”

Gavin sighed, everyone now watching him as he stood up with a look of resigned defeat

“there's something I think you should all see”


	7. #4 - Protect Your Interests

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the last chapter was posted over the placeholder, so it didn't send out notifications
> 
> so check you did catch it before starting this chapter :)
> 
> apparently 8:00 am is the golden hour for writing, i may have to make this a regular thing...

Gavin was silent, much like the rest of the herd as they followed him single file up the stairs to the second floor

It seemed like he was heading for the office at the end of the hall way, but stop dead three quarters of the way down the hall and looked up, reaching to catch the cord that dangled there

He tugged on it, the panel that was usually flush with the ceiling pushing out and gracefully folding down to reveal the stairs to the attic

“It’s up there” Gavin said, voice still small like a toddler caught with his paw in the cookie jar

The others exchanged looks, wondering what could be so bad that Gavin was acting like this

Gavin ascended first, wings spread out a little for balance to counteract his hefty belly, and Michael following close behind with a hand on the small of the bird-brid’s back to help him not fall backwards, then the others followed up behind

The attic was effectively the third floor, being the height of a regular one, but containing no windows for natural light, and being used solely to store all the things the various herd members owned before bonding to each other, and not having enough room for it in the main house

“Wow, you forget how much is actually up here” Ryan chuckled, piles of possessions stacked in clearly unique sections, like individual dragon hoards laid out like street blocks in a town

“Over here” Gavin said, voice coming from around behind a stack that looked like a ‘Geoff’ selection of _stuff_

They found two things as they rounded the pile;

Michael and Gavin standing and looking at a rather short pile

And upon a closer glance, realised it was too _structured_ to be just any kind of pile

“Gavin, is this…?” Jeremy trailed off the thought they all had

Gavin stepped over to the new city block, stepping over a raised section to kneel down in the lower centre area.

It was a _nest_

“You certainly have been busy…”Geoff breathed, a soft chuckle at the end

The nest was clearly designed in its construction. Its main body was a patchwork of towels and blankets, pillows and what could easily be recognised as the notorious missing shirts.

Around the walls were the less soft items, like gaming controllers, books, a few mugs from the kitchen, and even some framed photos off the shelves in the living room amongst a variety of many things

Gavin looked up, seemingly mortified at how calm the assessment of his work seemed to be

“I’m really sorry! I’ll put back everything when I’m done…” he said, pausing before adding “well, the things that survive…”

A comical eyebrow was uniformly raised

Gavin knew exactly where to reach to grab up a specific shirt, holding it up by the shoulders to show that it wasn’t much of a shirt anymore. It had been scratched and ripped and torn to a rather large degree, an old merch design barely visible through what were quickly definable as talon marks

“It’s the one we’ve all shared around the most, so I guess its smells like all of us more than the others…” Gavin said, drawing it close to his chest and then nuzzling at the collar

Jack recalled the other day while he had been doing laundry

“Oh! That’s why you wanted Geoff’s shirt before it went through the wash; because it smelt like him” Jack connected the dots out loud

Gavin nodded

“I know it’s kind of gross, but I needed it… I think the baby needed it” Gavin said, laying out the shredded shirt over his bump

“That’s ok, buddy” Geoff grinned, moving to sit down on the outer side of the nest wall

“Yeah, it’s like the babies’ craving our scents more than types of food” Ryan said, following Geoff’s suit along with the others, spacing out around the nest

Gavin was definitely starting to smile now that he knew they hadn’t condemned his hormone driven project

“I think the baby just really wants to get to know it’s dads” Gavin grinned “the nest down stairs just didn’t feel quite right”

“it’s also probably a bit of bird-biology” Jack chuckled “a safe, quiet, dimly lit place to lay eggs? It’s desirable for sure”

Gavin was visibly more relaxed now, wings fluffed softly around himself as he got comfortable in his nest.

It was clear he had spent enough time carefully putting its components together, creating a soft set of dips in the bed of the nest where he had been kneeling up and down while building, and even a clearly designed spot behind that where and egg would sit

“I think this will be great for you up here; you won’t have any of the noise from around the house disturbing you while you incubate the egg” Michael said

“Yeah, and you don’t have to worry about nosy people poking their head in every three seconds” Jeremy added

“But you guys will come up to see us, right?” Gavin asked, sounding almost at the door of panic in his voice

“of course, we can make a schedule of when we can come up so that you don’t have to worry about being caught off guard, and can decide when you’ll be resting or not want visitors” Ryan said, ever the numbers guy

Gavin smiled, wings fluffing up a little more and he settled down into his nest, seeming to purr happily as if he was a feline like Jack or Michael

“Can you guys stay here while I take a nap? It can always smell more like you guys” Gavin breathed softly before yawning

“Sure Gavvy; we’ll stand watch while you rest. We love you”


	8. #5 - Stick To A Schedule

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh worm? Rio's actually posting a chapter?
> 
> whoops

Gavin groaned quietly, rubbing his belly in discomfort

The egg was now far bigger than any he had ever produced before, and his guts were feeling a little more than bruised with how they were being squished around

He felt Michael shuffle beside him in the bed, tucked close beside him therefore being nudged by Gavin’s attempts to ease his discomfort

He rolled out of bed, thankful that Jack had swapped his usual edge-spot with him so he didn’t have to awkwardly climb out of them bed with massive bump in tow

Jeremy sleepily lifted his head as Gavin shrugged on a hoodie, Gavin patting his mate’s ankle reassuringly and watching the sugar glider snuggle back down under Ryan’s arm

Gavin padded out into the hallway and across to the stairs, deciding to just play a game for a while, something he could do quietly while his body would hopefully stop aching

Preferably he’d just fall asleep on the couch, wincing visibly as each stair made the natural flexes of his hips tug on all the tender internals

He eventually made it to the sofa, doing the most awkward maternity-manoeuvre to sit down in one piece

The sharp pain it caused made him yelp, the bird biting down on the last half and sitting motionless as he tried to listen for any of the herd having been disturbed by it

“Bloody hell” he whispered on a soft breath, lifting his feet up onto the sofa too and slowly reclining a little more

“I can’t _wait_ till it’s time to do all this stuff _externally_ ” Gavin chuckled dryly, following the circumference of his belly with the palm of his hand “you’re getting too big for papa”

He rested out one of his wings over himself to stay warm while gently setting right some feathers on the other, plucking a few that were ready to shed and letting them absently drop to the floor beside the sofa

He loved how soft and sleek they were right now, flushed out with hormones and boosted by all the vitamins he had to take during egg incubation

He let them distract him for a while till the feeling of his hand, becoming lax from sleep, letting go of his wing and dropping to his side made his quiet mind realise he was ready to sleep again

-

He felt _good_ , and that’s why he didn’t realise he was awake at first

But then he was looking up at the faces of Jack and Michael, and what seemed to be an extraordinarily tiny room around them, and it all felt a little too corporeal to be a dream

“… but I don’t think it would have been for very long, no more than a day at least. He’s not exactly a master deceiver; his wings get too fluffy when something’s bothering him”

“What’s bothering me?”

Michael looked down, surprised by Gavin's interjection

“Are you awake, buddy?” Jack asked, petting Gavin's hair

“’s going on?” he asked, trying to still figure out the tiny space

“We’re heading to the hospital, dummy, why didn’t you tell us it was that bad?” Michael scolded softly, not really mad but still very much mogar

“What’s bad?” the bird asked, completely lost as to what the cat was referring to

“You woke us all up, you were freaking out and refusing to let anyone touch you because it seemed to hurt like crazy” Jack said

“He finally got you to chill the fuck out and he thinks the egg’s too solid now for your skinny little body to handle anymore” Michael continued

“I remember it aching, but…?” Gavin trailed off, not remembering the supposed events described to him

“It’s ok, sweetie, I think you just hit the stage where we move to your next incubation stage” Jack soothed

_Given your male pelvic structure, I would highly recommend a C section when the egg is ready to be laid_

Gavin felt uneasy, washed with nerves and anxiety over the sudden arrival of the necessary procedure

“But… I thought I had a few more weeks?” Gavin asked, now understanding the tiny room was an ambulance, hence the shifts in gravity when it turned corners occasionally

“everything will be fine, grabby, everything was just an estimation anyway, aint’ no guidebooks on how dudes lay eggs” Michael said, squeezing Gavin’s hands in his

Everything had come on so fast, and Gavin was still exhausted and feeling too comfortable from whatever pain medication they must have given him

He couldn’t fight the need to sleep so he gave in to it, full of a sense of questioning, unable to solidify his wondering of _what will I be waking up to_ that felt runny like egg whites and impossible to hold onto

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'll kick anyone's ass, i'll kick my own ass
> 
> get this boy and his egg together at last
> 
> if i say that i'm going to do my best to get these last coming chapters written and done by the end of next week, it wont happen
> 
> so i'm not going *wink* to say that *wink* becuase i'm not gonna jinx myself *wink wink wink*
> 
> so DEFINITELY don't expect it by the end of next week *wink wink* cause fate just wont let it happen
> 
> this means theres no reason to bust my balls over the coming days to get it done, cause theres no point *CAN YOU SEE ME WINKING YET?*


	9. #6 - Communication Is Key

He doesn’t remember much

A mixture of powerful sedatives, exhaustion, and hormones

And then a release of pressure, and an aura of _???_ that couldn’t be translated into words

He was feeling restless under all the drugs, a stronger force telling he needed _something_ , unnameable and pulling at him stronger than any force he had felt before

A warm shape was pressing into his arm then, and like a cap popping off a jar he felt the connection

_Egg egg egg egg egg egg_

He was wrapping himself around it as best he could, he felt heavy but the determination was ceaseless

He brought his wing over it, not yet able to muster the strength to curl his whole body around it

_Keep warm, keep safe, keep warm, keep safe…_

-

Despite the ache in his gut, held back but still present like an animal behind zoo glass, he had set himself around his egg

He could feel people softly encouraging him to find a better position, take the strain off his stitches, but lost in a non-verbal swarm of instinct he couldn’t have moved if he wanted

_Keep safe_

Almost as if his previous duds had been practice, his legs had automatically found their position in a loop around its base, his chest resting close against the top and his arms reaching over to grasp his ankles in a shielding cage

_Keep warm_

The egg was hidden from all eyes but his, thick fluffed up wings obscuring all views as they insulated and provided natures own perfect temperature gauges

He probably lost hours like this, sitting and resting and _egg egg egg egg egg egg_

He couldn’t see them, but he could feel his flock nearby. Watching over him and egg while he couldn’t, no other’s allowed nearby

_Flock keep safe_

He pressed his nose to soft speckled blue

_Safe_

_\---_

Gavin was effectively out of commission

It would be a fair _while_ until he would be what could be considered _actually_ conscious to anything but the egg, so they got busy taking care of all other necessaries

“We can get him home in the ambulance on this stretcher, but I don’t know how we’re gonna get him up stairs, let alone into the attic” Ryan said

“No way we’re gonna be able to get it up there, not even if we carried it like a search and rescue team; the ladder-stairs are way too steep and narrow” Jeremy said, measuring out the bed that Gavin and egg were sitting on with his eyes

“There's no other access to get up there too” Geoff said “no windows or anything so we cant winch them up like an old fashioned piano”

Jack had been quietly pondering

“We might not need too” he commented

“show your working” Michael said

“We can let him do all the climbing” Jack said “think about it; he’s so _doused_ in hormones and instinct right now, that he can barely lift his head up. But what if that’s mostly cause he knows he’s safe here”

“oohhh” Ryan nodded, following Jack’s thought path

“We just need to get him to the bottom of the ladder, and chances are instinct will kick in and he’ll be on the move to somewhere safe” Jack continued with a confident grin

“And he’s pretty much been painting his own scent, and ours, all over that nest up there; he’ll be following that cue straight to safety” Geoff said, proud of jacks problem solving

“Chances are the ambulance ride and movin’ em all about will have him on edge too” Jeremy added “we will barely need to poke the bear at that stage; he’ll be raring to get somewhere familiar and safe”

“Then we just give him time to settle in, give him a chance to see if he becomes verbal again, and we can start will out little schedule we devised” Jack said

“The doctors are happy to discharge him when we’re ready; they can’t exactly check on his bandages at the moment, but you can have that covered when he’s coherent again” Ryan said, nodding to Jack

“Right, sounds like we have a plan” Geoff said, pecking Jack on the cheek as he got up to go let the doctor know their plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MOMENTUM
> 
> I'm excited for this to finally play out
> 
> its probably obvious that i slow down my output as i hit the kind of softer chapters near the middle of stories, but since i know where this is going now i'm feeling that pick-up again
> 
> Hit me with some comments, like theories or something idk some fun stuff
> 
> i love hearing from yall
> 
> (also i'm not bringing any of AH's real kids into this in any way, so don't worry about that)


	10. #7 - Try Not To Over Sleep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY SHIT, MOM
> 
> Rio's alive after all
> 
> after a solid month+ of feeling uninspired and creatively worn out, i beat the procrastination (with some handy room fung shui) and got this MO FUQIN CHAPTER WRIT
> 
> I had actually got half of it done before the lethargy hit, and I forgot i hadn't actually finished it
> 
> but here it is (long over due)
> 
> whoops
> 
> go forth

 

 

He lifted his head

 

The movement had stopped, everything was still again

 

Looking over feathers, things seemed familiar

 

_Not safe, find safe_

 

The smell reached him

 

Safe, familiar and marked personally as a safe place

 

_Egg must be safe_

 

Slowly unfolding himself, his head swivelled around to survey as he bundled the egg close against his chest

 

Held tight against chest, knees and wing-wrists, he followed the smell of warm and safe

 

_Egg must be safe_

 

A ladder before him

 

_Up the ladder_

 

Dark and quiet, the smell was tucked away behind the piles

 

_Around the piles_

 

Its construction spoke safe, spoke nest

 

It was perfect and meticulous

 

_Egg will be safe here_

_Climb into nest_

 

He settled down, fingers running like micro-machines checking every inch of the egg for injury from the short journey

 

Perfect, untouched

 

He felt the ease of safe that the nest was designed to tell him

 

He set himself around the egg again, finding a much easier and more comfortable position that the nest allowed

 

_Egg is safe_

 

He took the chance to preen briefly, keep his feathers fluffed and perfect for protecting the egg

 

Then settled in for the long haul, the biological timer in his mind telling him there was much time to go before the egg was ready

 

___

 

They sat anxiously, absolute silence except breathing and what they could hear upstairs

 

When the only sound to be heard was breathing, Jeremy headed over to the stairs, climbing slowly on hands and feet to peek over the lip of the top landing

 

 

“well, he’s definitely not down here anymore” Jeremy said quietly, standing up “think it worked?”

 

“I’d say so” jack said with a happy smile “He definitely went up the attic ladder, and I don’t think he would have gone up there and not made it to the nest”

 

“so what now?” Michael asked “how do we know when we should go up?”

 

“I covered that” Ryan said with a satisfied grin “Now we just wait for the signal”

 

* * *

 

 

Gavin stretched and sighed sleepily, rubbing his eye

 

He felt achy, all his muscles tight and exhausted like when you fall asleep in an armchair

 

His brain felt foggy, like he wasn’t fully lucid and trying to shake off a heavy dream

 

despite the attic being very dark in nature, his eyes were more than well adjusted, also aided by the gentle light spilling in through the hatch that was open to the floor below

 

he looked down at his charge, and smiled softly. he let his fingers trail over the gentle glossy finish of calcium shell, connecting the dots between a few of the bigger speckles

 

something in the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he turned his head to see the white folded card and the cellphone sitting in front of it on the storage box

 

'hit send when ready' read the card in Ryan's handwriting, and Gavin reached over to wake the screen up, finding a text already typed out and waiting for delivery

 

he smiled and hit send

 

the house was still quiet for a few minutes longer, and then there was an excited-sounding shuffle somewhere below

 

the sound of hushed energetic whispering drew closer to the attic hatch, Gavin grinning to himself, and then some gentle feet on the ladder before another silent pause

 

"Gavvy?" came Geoff's contained call, sounding like a puppy trying to hold back its eagerness

 

"I'm awake now" Gavin chuckled, Geoff letting out a quiet happy 'whoop!' before clambering up the rest of the way and heading around the piles, Gavin hearing more ladder ascension in the background

 

Geoff's grey eyes were bright, matching his thrilled smile that beamed ear to ear

 

"here I was; thinking the phone battery must have died" Geoff grinned, approaching slowly and then kneeling just outside the nest wall

 

"not possible, its plugged in with an extension cord" Ryan said proudly, taking a spot beside Geoff

 

"Michael almost garroted himself on it the other day" Jeremy grinned, using Ryan's horn as a handle to swing himself into the gap between the two gents, despite a gap having not been there

 

"are they out right now?" Gavin asked, voice husky an a little thick

 

"yeah, its PAX and Michael decided to go with Jack" Geoff said "they should be back tonight though"

 

"i'm sure they'll leave early now that you're back in the land of the living" Ryan said, gazing at the egg with warm eyes "hows it been going up here?"

 

 

"well, i cant say i remember a whole lot of my time up here so far, and I have no idea how many days its been" Gavin said, fluffing his feathers over the egg a few times

 

"try weeks" Jeremy said "it's been about two-ish weeks since we got you back from the hospital"

 

Gavin's eyebrows rose up

 

"really? i don't even feel all that hungry" Gavin said, patting his stomach and then regretting it when he felt a heavy ache

 

"go easy, bud, i'm not sure how well your gut will be feeling since no one's checked it since it was first dressed" Geoff said

 

"we did leave food by the hatch, and it wasn't left there long so we think you may have actually found it" Ryan said as Gavin gently tugged his shirt up

 

he could feel everyone grimacing a little, in anticipation of some well-worn dressings and the usual issues that go with such

 

but Gavin's shirt pulled away to reveal a perfectly clean scar site, a nicely healing line with stitches intact but without infection, or even a sign of residual mess

 

"well that's unexpected" Ryan said, lips pursed in pleasant surprise "we were expecting Jack to have to bust out the emergency aid after so long being unable to check on your C section incision"

 

Gavin gently pressed at the edge of the horizontal scar, feeling a general pain but nothing to hint at infection or a bad situation

 

"you said it had dressing?" he asked, looking up at them

 

"well, yeah" said Geoff, also looking a little disbelieving "you must have taken it off yourself cause no one else has been up here"

 

"looks like the egg wasn't the only thing you groomed, we need to get Michael some of your hormones so he stops complaining when he cleans everything for us, cause he won't remember" said Jeremy

 

"I think there are already drugs out there that do that, no need to re-invent the wheel" Ryan said

 

Gavin sighed happily, lowering his shirt back down as they bantered back and forth about how to make Michael clean more efficiently with illegal cocktails, feeling like it's been years since he's seen his boys

 

he couldnt wait for his whole herd to be back together with him

 

"you look tired, bud, we can leave you to rest" Geoff offered, shifting slightly to stand up

 

"no!" Gavin declared urgently, reaching out and grasping Geoff's hand to stop him "I fell the opposite, and I want you guys to tell me everything I missed, and then once more for good luck!"

 

they all smiled, Gavin collecting up a hand from Jeremy and Ryan also as they got comfortable

 

one of his hands in their, and the other over their developing child, he chittered in bliss as they regaled him without missing a single tiny detail

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact, my google chrome is trying to auto-correct 'geoffs' to 'offstage'
> 
> good logic lmao
> 
> what I feel like is a nice long chapter, after so many lil ones
> 
> also shout out to the comment-er worried Gavin would hurt himself getting into the attic, turns out he's on some matrix shit with autopilot lmao
> 
> rest easy, my friend


	11. #8 - Don't Over Think Things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ayy i have my laptop back
> 
> getting that vigor back
> 
> go forth
> 
> ALSO check the notes at the end of this chapter for a exciting idea i've had

The rest of the herd was genuinely astonished that Gavin wasn't going completely stir crazy spending week after week in the exact same spot, never leaving the attic and the precious egg for even a second, not even to step out of the nest and stretch his wings

 

he didn't even show signs of simple  boredom ; like his whole existence was as suspended as the egg and its precious cargo were

 

with two months down and approximately two more to go in the stuffy attic, they did all they could to offer options for keeping Gavin entertained 

 

they had run extension cords and brought a laptop up for him, so they could watch Netflix and other such sites, either with him or when he was alone every few days while they all went about various things for work and general life

 

Gavin loved watching things with various members of his herd snuggled nearby, even though he was more often than not found staring at the egg rather than the screen when a herd member looked over at him

 

It made sense in a way, that his whole world would revolve around this egg during this stage. its hard to neglect its needs when all your attention is effortlessly directed to it

 

"It certainly explains the way you would get all clingy to your dud eggs" Jeremy said "oh man; I didn't even think till just now, but you'll go back to having those again wont you?"

 

"I assume so" Gavin said, purring a little as Jeremy's fingers combed through the feathers between his shoulder blades, occasionally wandering his hand upwards to scratch at Gavin's scalp through the shaggy hair.  It had never been so long in his life, and all the egg hormones were still helping it grow quickly apparently

 

"Most women bird-brids who have babies go back to laying the seasonal ones, just like mammals and periods" he continued

 

"what if you got the snip" Michael chuckled, working on some of Gavin's primaries that kept pulling down the cobwebs in the rafters every time a new spider replaced them "like how women who don't want kids get their bits tied or whatever"

 

both Gavin and Jeremy had a matching look of horror crossed with  nope

 

"it took a specialist to realize i was laying a fertile egg; i think it would take every specialist in the world to figure that surgery out" Gavin said "assuming I would want to go down that path, which I  don't "

 

"I wonder how they will compare to this egg" Jeremy said "like now that you've had something way more drawn out and intense, a dud egg season might seem like a breeze"

 

"true" Michael said "I mean shit; maybe you go into early menopause and stop laying 'em since your body is some kind of crazy anomaly"

 

"it would certainly save on money" Gavin pursed his lips

 

"not to mention we are running out of space in the back yard to bury them" Jeremy said "we'll have to buy another house just for the yard space"

 

"or a farm" Michael chimed in

 

"or we just start going out into the woods and burying them there, but wild animals might try to dig them up which just seems kinda freaky" Jeremy said, Gavin batting him a little with his wing playfully

 

"have you thought of names?" Michael asked after he stopped chuckling "or do you wanna look at their face and go for first inspiration"

 

"i dunno" Gavin shrugged happily "I just know it wont be a 'jr' of anyone's name"

 

"aw, no Michael jr?"

 

"what about Lil J the second?" Jeremy asked "and then he can pass the name down for, like, twelve generations"

 

"I thought you would have gone for 'rimmy tim' or something" Michael grinned

 

"maybe if  I  was rimmy tim I might have, but obviously I'm not"

 

"obviously" Gavin chuckled

 

"its going to be so crazy waiting to see if they turn out to be a hybrid" Michael said "and if so, what  kind "

 

"i know right?!" Jeremy said excitedly "we're going to have to wait, like, twenty years!"

 

"my biggest wonder is if the bird gene being passed down by the maternal parent extending to this situation" Gavin said "cause if it does, and the baby is hybrid, then they will most likely be an avian hybrid"

 

"oh shit, I didn't think of that" Michael said "at least we wouldn't have to worry about a toddler who can fly away from us"

 

"it still sucks you can't DNA test for hybridism" Jeremy said "cause testing for the parents would only tell you what you already knew from that, and the hybridism can be from a  recessive species in the gene pool"

 

"well, usually you have an idea of any potential species hanging in the wings, since you know who's gene pools the baby came swimming out of" Michael said

 

"but with five potential fathers..." Gavin said, facial expression getting distant as he got lost in thought

 

"yeah, it really is all up in the air, isn't it..." Jeremy said

 

Gavin was quiet for a moment, but then what he had been obviously thinking on quite a bit came up

 

"do you think... I mean, it would obviously be a question for everyone, just like the potential name, but..." he trailed off, trying to get the though in order

 

"what is it, grabby?"

 

"...do you think... we just... shouldn't? get a DNA test I mean, to find out the other parent..." Gavin said, his face lined with concentration, having definitely not come p with this thought on a whim

 

"you want it to stay unknown?" Jeremy asked

 

"well, I mean, eventually they would have physical traits that might give away clues, or they might decide later on they want to know or what-have-you... but for when they are young, and its still kinda open expectations... what if we just left it like that?"

 

Michael caught Gavin's gaze

 

"Gavvy, are you worried about this? about who the other dad might be?"

 

"not because i have a preference or anything!" Gavin quickly declared, a little panicked that they could have thought that "It just feels like a tick on a piece of paper, and completely unnecessary for who this child is and how much this herd means to me, and how much the baby is going to mean to all of us"

 

Michael took Gavin's face in his hands and craned over the border of the nest to press a big kiss on Gavin's stressed face

 

"you dummy, we never for a second you had a 'preference' over us"

 

"and I guarantee none of us are  concerned  about who the other biological parent is. you put it nicely; its just a tick on a paper"

 

"We can  all  talk about this and confirm it for you later, but this baby isn't a child of two people, its a child of six" Michael nodded, pulling Jeremy over to him to dig his knuckles into Jeremy's head before pressing a kiss there too "no matter who hit the home run"

 

Gavin's face melted into a smile, the same way it melted their hearts with even more love for their bird

 

"god, of course you're right" Gavin smiled "I don't know why I got all mixed up about this, I know you boys too well"

 

"day one till day none, we're all in this together" Jeremy said 

 

The tell tale sounds of Geoff's truck rumbling into the driveway reached them

 

"god, i hope whoever's in that truck brought food, i'm hungry!" Michael declared, turning the word 'hungry' into an extra six syllables in a singing jingle

 

"mm, i'm ready to eat too"

 

"I'll go make sure, and if they didn't i'll tell them to get back into that truck and go get something" Jeremy said, running his fingers through Gavin's lengthening locks once more before the now familiar pat-pat-pat of socks descending the attic ladder stairs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm thinking of starting a fic that has small chapters, but is a reader-interactive
> 
> so, for example, at the end of each chapter there will be 2-3 options of how the story can progress, like a text based game
> 
> it would be from the perspective of the reader, as if you're a character in DND or something (a silent protag if you please) and the story would include the RT and AH people as characters, i'm thinking in a high fantasy scenario to continue the DND kind of theme
> 
> interest? i think it would be super fun, and yall would vote on the option for the character to contiue on through the comments, or i could make straw polls that I would keep open till I sat down to write the next chapter, follwing what you guys majority voted on
> 
> HMU if yall would be interested


	12. #9 - A Helping Hand Doesn't Go Amiss

As the months passed, life adjusted into a seamless gear-works around the nest in the attic, so much that they almost forgot it wasn’t permanent

  
Gavin now had a mini-fridge, a special light to help with vitamin-D, a full flat screen TV set up, and they had created a comfortable seating half-circle at the edge of the nest, so that when members of the herd visited they didn’t have to bust their knees or asses finding a comfortable way to sit on the hardwood floor

  
There was even a dust-buster station, which the herd used to preemptively vacuum the spiders and webs away before they ended up in Gavin's feathers or Ryan's horns

  
Everything had been worked down to an art, from the preparation and delivery of food up to the attic, to the precise angles of speaker systems to get the best acoustics in the unconventional space

  
They would have added an attic window or a solar tube, had Gavin not been very fierce at the mentions of any sharp things other than his talons being allowed in the attic, which included power tools

  
“It’s like an owl; you ever seen those videos where they puff all their feathers out and just dead-stare at the threat?” Jeremy said as he went into the fridge and retrieved a red bull “I had that pin-button from PAX still on my beanie and he went full-owl till I dropped my beanie out of the attic”

  
“It’s a delicate environment” Jack smiled “inside the egg. It’s like how the doctor said we couldn’t DNA test till after the hatching, cause even a small needle prick could let all kinds of bad stuff inside the safe shell”

  
“Oh yeah, I remember that” Michael hummed over his coffee at the table “that feels like an eternity ago”

  
“not that we have to worry about that stuff anymore” Ryan added “but yeah, I think Gavin’s instincts would have told him that putting anything sharp through the egg would be bad”

  
“The baby still has to have vaccines and blood tests” Geoff said “so needles are still happening, just not for the purpose of dad-ness”

  
“Dad-ness, hmm?” Ryan raised a brow “you mean paternity”

  
“You only sound smart because you didn’t flub”

  
“Paternity is a fancy word to you?”

  
“Jesus Christ, I prefer it when you guys swing your dicks around in loud sex, this is just obnoxious banter” Jeremy snorted

  
“Yeah, just fuck already or how about you _don’t_ start another dumb pissing contest” Michael added

  
Geoff and Ryan's eyes met briefly

  
“I mean, we aren’t at work for two hours…” Ryan trailed off

  
Geoff sighed wearily

  
“Ok, but I’m on top this time”

  
Jack rolled his eyes as shirts were already being shucked before they had even finished climbing the stairs

  
“I swear to god, if they break another lamp I’m gonna be so mad” Jack sighed, but with a fond smile at the end

  
“Naw; Geoff was up with Gavin most of the night, he’s too tired for any of the usual” Michael said, waving absently

  
Jack hummed, jumping a little as the oven timer rang

  
He got up from the table, taking the tray of mini apple pies out and setting it on the range top

  
Jeremy took a dramatic inhale, followed by a noise that could rival a regular Ryan and Geoff hook-up

  
“He’s gonna love those” he grinned, sidling up to jacks side “he’s been on a real apple-kick lately”

  
“Do you recon he’ll chew the food up and spit it into the baby’s mouth once it’s hatched?” Michael asked “he doesn’t have tiddies to breast feed”

  
“We’ll use baby formula” Jack said, ignoring half the biting points in Michael's quip “we have more than enough stocked already to last out baby’s entire infancy”

  
“This kid is going to be so damn spoiled” Jeremy laughed “six salary-earning dads who won’t be able to resist buying ‘em everything they want”

  
“I’m imagining the biggest nerf battles” Michael added

  
Jack moved one of the pies onto a plate, preemptively cutting it into wedges and leaving the knife on the bench as he headed up to take it to Gavin

  
He was surprised Geoff and Ryan had managed to shut the bedroom door, despite still being able to hear the sounds of their love on the other side

  
Heading up the steps to the attic, he found it to be a silent environment, so he quietly moved around to the nest and avoid making much noise in case Gavin was asleep

  
But rounding to the nest he found Gavin awake as his eyes reflected back at him

  
He was sitting quietly in the dark, seeming neutral and strangely dormant

  
Except there was a consistent scrubbing noise in the space, hard to describe but reminding Jack of using a scouring pad on a porcelain mug

  
“Gavin?”

  
The bird-brid looked up at the lion, not seeming to snap out of a daydream but still in the same kind of distant aura

  
He just blinked at Jack, eyes shifting to watch jacks tail swish nervously behind him, and then seemed to slowly glance forward like he had forgotten Jack was standing there

  
But when Jack kneelled down to set the plate on Gavin's side table, the bird glanced back at him, followed his hand moving out and then back to the lion’s side

 

The sound still audible the whole time

 

Jack knew it was coming from under Gavin's wings that hovered like a cloak over the egg between his knees, but he still couldn’t tell what it was

 

“You OK, Gavvy?”

 

“Egg?” Gavin replied, in the same tone, but almost like a toddler who could only construct one word questions

 

Jack wondered if Gavin's egg-brain had kicked in again, but this current Gavin was placid, calm, and relaxed, which was a strict contrast to the previous ways the egg has played on his mind

 

“It’s under your wings. Is it there?” Jack asked, continuing it calm tone and hoping to get Gavin to respond a little widely

 

Gavin glanced down, opening out his wings to reveal the egg sitting happily as usual

 

“Egg” he said, a small smile playing on his lips as he looked at it

 

Jack now understood the noise

 

The egg was sitting upright, with the narrower end pointing up

 

Gavin had his palm resting on the top, and was slowly tracing the tips of his talons over the shell in gentle circular motions

 

He must have been doing this for a while, and while spinning the egg, because a near centimeter-tall line was visible around the top of the egg, a finger length down from the top

 

Looking close Jack could see the extremely precise circular marks, almost invisible in the low light, and how they followed the even thinned seam around the egg

 

Behind him he heard a small noise

 

“What is he doing?!” Jeremy whispered in his ear, sounding a little panicked for the safety of the egg and its structural integrity

 

Jack smiled though, happy that reading all those biology books had paid off

 

“It’s OK, this is a part of the hatching process” Jack said quietly as Jeremy kneeled beside him

 

“What do you mean?” the sugar glider asked

 

“When a regular bird hatches, it uses its beak to crack through the shell, ‘zipping’ around the top first to them pop out of the hole. However, since humans don’t have beaks, the mother wears a thin strip around the egg to do the hard work for the baby, who will use their legs and essentially kick a top off”

 

“A child after my own heart” Jeremy grinned, and then froze “wait; if Gavin is starting to bust the top off the egg, then-?!”

 

Jack nodded

 

“We are about to be dads”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooooh we almost there!
> 
> as a side note, as we enter the last few chapters of eggnancy, perhaps consider taking a peak at my new fic, The Path You Take
> 
> its very dungeons and dragons, in the sense that every chapter leave you readers witha few options as to how to pregress the story! (and it takes place in you standard high-fantasy DND-esque fantasy AU)
> 
> its RT/AH, with the reader as the main character (gender neutral) and the RT and AH faces playing as the characters you meet along the way
> 
> take a peek for more info: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14217060
> 
> FOR UPDATES ABOUT UPCOMING CHAPTER POSTS ETC FOLLOW MY UPDATE BLOG HERE
> 
> https://heartsprout-updates.tumblr.com/


	13. #10 - Nervous Energy Accompanies Any Great Moment

You could have heard an _atom_ drop in the attic

Not even the dust stirred, the herd appearing to not even dare _breathe_ as they sat about a meter from the nest, having pushed their seating area back to give the egg and mother more space

Gavin was still in his uniquely serene state; however his eyes seemed more alert. They followed every slight movement in the attic with sharp consideration, observing the nature of the area like a hawk but without seeming ruffled

The herd also hadn’t backed away out of fear of Gavin's territorial behaviour; they were terrified in a whole other way

Well; terrified might not be the correct word, more that their energy was alight with anxiety, eagerness, and what could simply only be described as ‘!!!!!!!’ recurring

Jeremy was hanging off of one of Ryan’s arms, practically _trembling_ with nervous energy, while Ryan himself was essentially draped over Jack’s shoulder like a jacket

Geoff was sat cross legged on Jack’s other side, and the younger cat-brid was tucked into the ram’s lap, also seeming to quiver like the other lad

All eyes were on the egg

Gavin’s seam-scouring had stopped about half an hour ago, and now he had both hands resting gently on either side of the wider part of the egg, palms and fingers flat against the shell

Jack recognised that the bird was feeling for activity inside the egg, just as a mammalian mother would experience contractions to signify the baby’s arrival

He was calm, eyes still following around the room

And then he too stopped breathing, every cell freezing

The herd felt a collective shiver as Gavin’s attention zeroed in on the egg, and then the bird seemed to feel something more from the egg, quickly adjusting his position so he was now sitting on his haunches and no longer nestling the egg in his legs

The herd all huddled together a little closer

Gavin’s hands still rested against the egg, but now he could lower his head closer

And he began to purr

Not like how the two felines did; Gavin's purr was closer to a mix of chirruping and cooing, a soft trilling noise that he sang to the egg

The next movement from the baby was noticeable to the whole herd; a mighty kick that made the whole shell rock no more than half a centimetre in any direction

But in the absolute stillness of the attic, it was more powerful to them than an avalanche

Gavin continued to encourage the egg, rubbing gentle circles over the side of the shell with his palms

Another kick, more powerful than the last

Geoff had to press Michael’s feline ear between his lips to stop himself from practically _whimpering_

Gavin seemed to congratulate the eggs effort, singing happily

With another mighty kick, the egg seemed to bow ever so slightly, the effect caused by the narrow point of the egg flexing at the new seam Gavin had created

Gavin gave a happy chirp, encouraging the amazing progress

And a tiny trill came back

Jack couldn’t hide the fact anymore; he was openly crying and the whole herd pulled even closer together, nuzzling and kneading and _thrumming_ with joy and pride as the egg bowed a few more times

The ‘lid’ of the egg was now held on by only a small segment of membrane, almost completely folding open as if on a hinge with every stretch from the baby

The lid was folding towards the herd though, so it was hiding if any little feet could be seen with each kick

And then Gavin seemed to be happy with the progress, taking the lid and folding it back so it wouldn’t fall over the eggs opening anymore

And then they could see he was crying too

“Oh, my sweet little girl”

The herd couldn’t hold themselves back anymore, the lads slowly crawling forward with the gents just behind

Gavin looked up at them, tears and smiles, his eyes alive and showing he was back in the driver’s seat

He gently took hold of the edge of the egg's hole, gripping opposite sides and pulling

Two thick cracks snaked down the shell, and it pulled away from itself in two halves

Cradling a brand new life

Her face was scrunched up, unsure about the feeling of this new air on her skin

The shell was slick, layers of membrane and amniotic fluid clinging to the now exposed environment and baby

Unlike the harsh live-births of regular human babies, she didn’t scream or cry at being forced from her environment

She was ready to meet them

Gavin gently lifted her from the remains of her shell, cradling her to his chest

She mouth stretched open as she yawned, taking in a big breath of this strange new air

“She’s perfect” Gavin breathed, turning to his herd and nuzzling the top of her head with the most delicate of touches

“She’s absolutely… perfect” Geoff sobbed a little through his uncontrollable grin, unable to find a better word as he pawed away his tears

“I can’t believe she’s finally here” Jeremy squeaked, hugging onto Ryan’s arm tight enough to cut circulation

Gavin scooted himself closer, the herd also following suit

The authority of the nest wall now forgotten, the herd huddling together around each other and their child

They reached out, touching Gavin's arms and shoulders and knees, as well as each others, all lost in this amazing pride and congratulation of each other

Gavin held her like the world could never touch her, the herd unable to hold back gentle caresses of her soft hands, plush legs and gentle head with the softest wisps of hair

“There is no way we should be allowed near her” Michael whispered “it should be illegal”

“We should have started with a puppy” Ryan agreed “she’s too precious for us”

“There’s no way we are ever going to be able to say no to her” Geoff added

“God, we are going to ruin this child” Jack huffed a gentle laugh

“How did we ever deserve her” Gavin grinned “six men, and the sweetest lil’ girl”

She yawned again, tiny face scrunching up, and then she looked up at them all

Bright little eyes to mirror Gavin's

“Oh, my sweet little girl” Gavin breathed again, voice thick and eyes welling over again

He looked up at them

“We need to name her. The perfect name, which she can go into this world carrying”

He looked back down at her

“Her first gift from her fathers”

They were all silent a moment, just watching her look around the space and stretch her limbs

She blinked up at her dads, seeming to take a turn to look at each of them

And then like when she was in the egg, she made a tiny noise, not unlike a chirp

A gentle trill, not quite a laugh but just as sweet as any song

“Melody” Jeremy seemed to blurt out, catching himself off guard

“Melody” Geoff echoed, tasting it

“Yeah, because… before she had even tasted fresh air, she sang to us” Jeremy added

“She let us know she was there with a song…” Jack smiled, Jeremy’s own smile growing at the warmth in the lion-brids voice

“What do you think; Melody?” Gavin spoke to her, the little girl blinking up at him and then closing her eyes with another trill

“Welcome to the herd”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FOR UPDATES ABOUT UPCOMING CHAPTER POSTS ETC FOLLOW MY UPDATE BLOG HERE
> 
> https://heartsprout-updates.tumblr.com/
> 
> (It also has a quick explanation about the recent inactivity and whats to be expected for the next two weeks~ish...)


	14. Conclusion

Melody’s gentle breathing was accompanied by the slightly heftier breaths of her six fathers, perched in a ring around the crib as the gazed down at her

It must have been 2 hours of silence at least, just watching the tiny bundle sleep

The near-stasis of the room was broken by Jeremy shuffling, having lost feeling in one of his legs from kneeling for so long

“This is unreal” Ryan whispered

“I could watch her all day” Michael whispered

“I’ve had to pee for, like, half an hour and yet still…” Geoff whispered

“It feels wrong to walk away, like leaving her alone for even a second is a sin” Jack whispered

“I feel enormous, it’s weird not feeling like the smallest person in a room” Jeremy whispered

Gavin just chuckled softly to himself

“I think sitting in the attic for months has helped me somewhat adjust” he said, the first to actually speak above the softest breath “c’mon, loves, let’s go downstairs; she won’t shatter”

No one moved, so Gavin took Geoff’s hand and gently tugged on it, finally convincing the ram-brid to peel away from their infant daughter

The others followed suit and they headed down stairs

Gavin looked around, finding it surprising that a few things had been rearranged or changed in the kitchen and front room, even though it was perfectly reasonable given how long he had been absent from the rest of the house

“It’s weird seeing you down here again” Michael chuckled, perching his hands on Gavin's shoulders from behind and pressing a kiss on Gavin’s temple

“It’s weird seeing you in full light; you really lost the majority of your tan” Jeremy added

“It’s going to feel so weird going outside again… and taking an actual shower” Gavin laughed as the herd found themselves collecting at the dining table

“Thinking of all the random, common place things you haven’t engaged in is so strange” Ryan said “like car rides, shopping, and doing dishes”

“No reason to start again now then, eh, I’m sure the dished will survive without me” Gavin grinned

“Oh; I think you owe the rest of us plenty of chores” Jack corrected

Gavin now noticed the high chair, added to the ring of dining chairs

“Who’d have thought this herd could get any bigger”

“If melody is a carnivore-hybrid, does that mean we can change us to a ‘pack’?”

“We have eighteen-plus years before we know if she’s a hybrid, and majority still wins”

“What about a flock? Since she’s female, there's a strong chance she gets the bird genes from Gavin”

“Still not majority, Jeremy, and I thought you were a herd-er?”

“I’m just saying…”

“What if she learns how to fly? How do you stop a rebellious teenager from flying away when they have a hormonal tantrum?”

“She still might not be a bird, and besides, I’m sure we’ll have it figured out within eighteen years”

“What if she bonds to someone? And what if they suck? Do dads have an all-powerful bond-breaking authority?”

“We already know that’s not true, and I’m sure if Melody bonds to someone, it will be someone worthy of her”

“She still might not be a hybrid at all…”

“That’s some insane odds, but it doesn’t matter either way”

A unanimous agreement went around the circle

“Melody is our sweet baby” Geoff declared “no matter who she is, who she’s going to be, and how she expresses that”

“Though, I think if she does present as a hybrid, we are going to need a bigger house to account for _seven_ hybrids” Ryan added

“Ehh, we have eighteen-ish years” Jeremy said “we can start a house fund now”

“And a college fund” Jack added “with six working dads, I’m sure we _might_ just be able to cover tuition”

“Anyway, we should probably call Burnie; I think if we don’t let them know she has hatched, Ashley may come break the front door down in anticipation, and Barb and Lindsay won’t be far behind” Ryan said

“Good idea” Geoff chuckled, hunting out his phone from his pocket

“So, what now?” Michael asked “do we… go back upstairs? And see if she’s still asleep?”

Everyone else paused

“I suppose… we could watch her… just a little while longer”

Gavin laughed and rolled his eyes as the herd softly stampeded back up to the nursery

He had felt her with him for the last few months; he could handle waiting till she was awake

He did head back upstairs however, going into their bedroom

Aside from the duvet cover, this room was still effectively unchanged

He had missed the sight of their big custom bed, and he couldn’t wait till he could crawl in with his herd for the night

He headed over, pulling back the cover and climbing in, pulling all of their pillows close and breathing in deep

The wonderful smell of his wonderful family, the gentle scent of the baby still clinging to his shirt

His beautiful herd

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who read, commented, kudos'ed and loved this story
> 
> and a huge thank you for sticking out the huge gaps between updates, as my ability to sit and focus on writing, or having space in my hectic schedule, got a little unforgiving at times
> 
> I have a feeling that the herd will be making another return (I love my hybrid children so much) and I'm interested to explore how Melody plays into their story
> 
> however I think there might be quite a hiatus from me writing atm, so I'm not going to get anyone preemptively excited by making deadline promises lmao
> 
> (absolutely do let me know if that's something people want to read, I allways love the feedback I get on my work)
> 
> So for now, thank you so much for sticking this out and I hope you enjoyed it :)


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